Cardinal Ritter pitcher Hayden Cleveland has a 5-2 record for the 16-12 Raiders. "He gives us a chance to win every time we hand him the ball," coach Jason Sims said.

Through the first four innings of last week's City tournament baseball final, Cardinal Ritter High School pitcher Hayden Cleveland had stymied one of the best teams in Class 4A.

Using a variety of pitches, Cleveland held No. 6 Cathedral to one run on three hits, striking out six batters in the process.

That, Ritter coach Jason Sims said, is what Cleveland is capable of doing on a nightly basis -- and getting past what happened in the fifth inning is the key to the senior pitcher making that next step toward a successful college career.

In the fifth against the Irish, Cleveland committed two throwing errors on back-to-back at-bats, opening up the floodgates for what would be a nine-run inning for Cathedral and a 10-0 Irish win.

"You can't give a team like Cathedral extra outs and expect to win," Sims said. "Hayden has got to be able to move past those little mistakes and put them behind him. When he does that, the sky is the limit."

Cleveland is 5-2 this season for the 16-12 Raiders and has been everything Sims hoped he would be.

"He gives us a chance to win every time we hand him the ball," Sims said. "He wants to face the biggest teams on our schedule, and he gives us innings. We have a chance against anybody when he's pitching for us."

Sims said Cleveland is getting letters from some smaller colleges. "I think he is really going to be a find for someone," Sims said. "He's a very good student -- I think his GPA is around 3.6 or higher -- and after opposing coaches see him pitch, they come up to me and say, 'I'm going to call a couple schools about him.' He can definitely pitch at the next level."

Steve Brooks, Star correspondent

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Cardinal Ritter pitcher Hayden Cleveland likes to test the best

Through the first four innings of last week's City tournament baseball final, Cardinal Ritter High School pitcher Hayden Cleveland had stymied one of the best teams in Class 4A.